August 4th, 2014

I understand that the increasing prevalence of Arctic melt ponds is probably telling us something rather depressing about the rate at which glaciers are melting, the implications for global climate change and the chances that at some point within the remainder of my lifetime I'm going to find myself commuting to work in a canoe. I really do.

But on the other hand, those little turquoise jewels nestling in an expanse of whiteness sure are just so goddampretty that sometimes I think it's worth the impending disruption of modern civilisation.

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April 24th, 2010

April 2nd, 2009

If you ever wondered what the world really thinks of Britain, the answer comes with a new Facebook group: "You are not an advanced country if you have separate water taps." The idea that a washbasin should have a single mixer tap unites people across the most intractable divides. Poles and Russians, Americans, Arabs and Iranians all want to know why the British choose to scald and then freeze their hands, rapidly alternating between two faucets. Why do we do it? When I answer, "We don't – we either use the cold tap or the plug," that only strengthens their newfound commonality. And their frank disgust with me. […]

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December 4th, 2008

Easily one the best stories we encountered last month came from The New York Times, and it concerned about a leak in one of the tunnels that bring water to New York City. It's no ordinary leak, we read.

For most of the last two decades, the Rondout-West Branch tunnel â€” 45 miles long, 13.5 feet wide, up to 1,200 feet below ground and responsible for ferrying half of New York Cityâ€™s water supply from reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains â€” has been leaking some 20 million gallons a day. Except recently, when on some days it has lost up to 36 million gallons.

Using previously posted news items for comparison, in May, Barcelona imported via ship cargo some 6 million gallons of emergency drinking water in the first of 6 shiploads per month for three months. Then in June, drought-hit Cyprus started importing from Greece some 14 million gallons of water per day until, presumably, this past November.

It's such a huge leak that the city has a team of half a dozen deep sea divers who are working a month of 12-hour shifts 700 feet down, trying to gain access to a malfunctioning valve.